Soll ich vielleicht in tausend Büchern lesen, 84 85 Den leichten Tag gesucht und in der Dämm’rung schwer, 86 Veit Rad und Kämmen, Walz und Bügel. Ich stand am Thor, ihr solltet Schlüssel sein; In this sense it is also used in the plural, thus: Wenn Ein Stein sich wölbet über beide Staube, Schiller. 83 In a conversation with the celebrated historian Luden, Goethe once said—“Even were you able to unveil and scrutinize all "the sources of history, what would you discover? nothing but one great truth, which was known long ago 66 66 ...viz. viz. that everything, in every age and in every land "has been miserable enough, that men have tortured themselves, “and have schemed, have tormented and harassed each other, "and that but very few have enjoyed comfort and happiness." The confession that here and there has been seen a happy man does not quite agree with the dark despair under which Faust labours. 84 Compare these lines with Shakespeare, Hamlet, Aot V., Sc. I. "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs ? your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?" 85 85 „Jämmerlich," wretchedly, miserably, implies the idea of fchwer" in a higher degree.,,Der leichte Tag" the day's clear light. Freilich"-indeed forsooth! making a strong contrast between his actual despair, and his former confidence in the success of his philosophical inquiries. 87 Nature is described as a "dark secret in the open day.” Läßt sich Natur des Schleiers nicht berauben, Und was sie deinem Geist nicht offenbaren mag, Das zwingst du ihr nicht ab mit Hebeln und mit Schrauben. 88 Du alt Geräthe, das ich nicht gebraucht, Du stehst nur hier, weil dich mein Vater brauchte. Du alte Rolle, du wirst angeraucht, So lang an diesem Pult die trübe Lampe schmauchte. Erwirb es, um es zu besitzen! Was man nicht nügt, ist eine schwere Last; Nur was der Augenblick erschafft, das kann er nüßen. Doch warum heftet sich mein Blick auf jene Stelle ? 89 Als wenn im nächt'gen Wald uns Mondenglanz umweht? She lies before us, yet none of us is able, in spite of all our metaphysical hypotheses, to draw the bolt that guards her mysteries. 88 Compare these lines with Haller's version; In's Innre der Natur Die äußre Schale weist. Or with Lessing's transcription of the same idea; In's Innre der Natur Dringt me dein kurzer Blick, Dein Wissen ist zu leicht Und nur des Pöbels Glück. the two last lines meaning that all our knowledge may be sufficient indeed to please the generality of men, but cannot really penetrate the secrets of nature. 89 The lines,,Du alt Geräth"......,,Das kann er nüßen" repeat the idea of general disgust with everything around him, contained in the first monologue. The sense of the last two lines is, that anything which cannot be used, anything not practical, is a bur Ich grüße dich, du einzige Phiole, 93 Ein Feuerwagen schwebt auf leichten Schwingen den to us, and that only that is useful which the present moment demands. 90 Faust's mind is wholly given up to the one daring dream of seeing clearly into the dark night of our earthly existence. Having failed to penetrate this darkness, alike by the beaten track of study, and the mysterious paths of magic, he concludes that the only remaining road to success is Suicide-he determines therefore to free his soul from its bodily burden, in the hope of beginning a fresh unfettered existence, in the anticipation of which he feels himself already surrounded by a glorious flood of light. 91 Compare these lines with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act. V., Sc. I. where Romeo asks for the phial that contains the means of procuring eternal slumber. Goethe calls the poison, "the essence of gentle lulling juices-an extract of all deadly refined strengths."-Romeo speaks of it as a Cordial. 92 91 Spiegelfluth-the glassy waters. 93 Ein neuer Tag-a new day, a newly beginning life. 94 Ein Feuerwagen-may be an allusion to the "chariot of fire" in which Elijah was translated to heaven. Faust in his excited imagination continually compares himself to those more highly gifted spirits, which in sacred as well as in profane history he sees selected to shine above the vulgar crowd. 95 Auf neuer Bahn den Aether zu durchdringen, Du, erst noch Wurm, und die verdienest du? Vermesse dich, die Pforten aufzureiße:1, 96 Daß Manneswürde nicht der Götterhöhe weicht, 95 Zu neuen Sphären reiner Thätigkeit-of a pure activity; i.e. an activity no longer clogged by earthy matter. 96 Compare this and the following lines with Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. I. "To sleep! perchance to dream;-ay, there's the rub; "Must give us pause; there's the respect There the What a difference between the two characters. wavering, undecided, terrified philosopher-here the daring, fiery doubter, who is continually wishing, like the fallen angels, to prove himself equal to that eternal source from which he inherits his intellectual powers. Hamlet bears a much closer resemblance to Werther, who with his weak and womanish character, is too great a coward to bear misfortune, and exclaims despairingly: Den Vorhang aufzuhehen und dahinter zu treten! Das ist Alles! Und warum das Zandern und Zagen? Weil man nicht weiß wie es dahinter aussieht? und weil man wiederkehrt? Und daß das nun die Eigenschaft unseres Geistes ist, da Verwirrung und Finsterniß zu ahnen, wo wir nichts Bestimmtes wissen. We see Faust at the very beginning of the tragedy wishing to put an end to his existence, from a desire of unriddling his dreams of the future life of discovering the after-state of his spirit when freed from all its bodily fetters. Unable to bear his ignorance of things that are beyond the reach of human knowledge, and to free himself from his unhappy state of fear, of doubt and of despair, he would risk the awful step of self-destruction, path whose narrow portal is wreathed around with flames of hell." 66 a Vor jener dunkeln Höhle nicht zu beben, Um dessen engen Mund die ganze Hölle flammt; Und wär' es mit Gefahr, ins Nichts dahin zu fließen. " Nun komm' herab, krystallne, reine Schale, An die ich viele Jahre nicht gedacht! Wenn einer dich dem andern zugebracht. Ich werde jezt dich keinem Nachbarn reichen, Ich werde meinen Wiß an deiner Kunst nicht zeigen: Mit brauner Fluth erfüllt er deine Höhle. 97 In this last line he clearly discloses his character as a doubter, and is ready to destroy himself "even at the risk of vanishing into nothingness." 98 The Germans introduced into their feasts a kind of poetical system, exercised principally during the free libations after dinner, when the cup of fraternity was passed round. Every one present was obliged on such occasions to recite some rhymes; if he made a mistake in his delivery, or failed to finish his cup at one draught, he was obliged as a punishment to drink off a second bumper. These drinking-cups were of the most extraordinary shapes; very often in the form of horns, boots, &c., the latter with the inscription: Der ist kein deutscher Mann, Der nicht seinen Stiefel trinken kann. A most curious collection of cups of every variety of device is to be found at Hanover in the King's treasury. |